Saturday, March 29, 2014

I found these plaster decorating eggs in the Easter section at Walmart. They are $1.97 and advertise that they can be dyed and decorated exactly like regular eggs. Of course, I loved the idea of being able to dye these eggs and display them for weeks before Easter without worrying about them spoiling. Plus, I can reuse these faux Easter eggs for year after year. Win, win!

While I love the finished result of these eggs, there are a few lessons I learned about these fake chicks that I'm going to share with you.

Lessons Learned When Dying Faux Eggs:

1. Use a Spoon to Hold to Bottom of Cup

First, the plaster eggs are so light in weight that they float on top of the dye when you add them to the cup. To prevent this, I had to add a spoon to each cup to hold the eggs under the coloring.

2. Use White Vinegar Only- No Water

The plaster eggs do not absorb color as much as a real egg. The first time I tried this, I held each egg under the water for hours (yes, this is not exactly a kid friendly task as the kids want immediate results). Even at the end of this session, the hues were very pastel. Only the pink shades came out vibrantly. I used the classic Paas Coloring kit from Target. The next time, I filled the cups with vinegar only and the results were slightly better. Still, most of the results ended in very pastel colors. The below picture was taken after these eggs stayed in the "vinegar-only" dye overnight. I love them these shades, but I'd have thought they'd be majorly dark!

3. Pink Shades Yield the Darkest Hues

In my experience, the pink color tablets yielded the darkest results the fastest. Here's my bowl of "pinkies." You can see the various shades based on the duration they were in the dye.

4. Experiment with Different Dye Kits

I tried a gel kit where I dropped the eggs into baggies to coat the eggs with color. Epic fail. The gel never dried on the eggs and always appeared streaked. I tossed them before I could get a photo. But trust me. Disaster.

5. Have Fun Decorating!

I used a copper-gold leaf paint on a handful of the eggs to add details. I want to experiment with acrylic paints and nail polish to see the results.

Overall, I love the results of the faux eggs. I have seen other brands on the market, too (try Michaels) and they may yield better results. I'll keep you posted on my findings.

Have you found a particular dye that works great on the faux eggs? Please share!
Visit here for DIY Easter Garland.

Friday, March 28, 2014

We're celebrating spring in Connecticut regardless of the temperatures outside! We put our Easter tree up this week to add a dash of spring and celebration to the house.

I discovered these faux plaster eggs while on a trip to Walmart for pedialyte. (Stomach bug is making the rounds in our house this week, too). I thought they would be the best thing since Trina Turk pillows but they were a bit difficult to work with (literally kept them each in the dye for 4+ hours to get this hue to stick). But, I love the outcome and plan to add a dash of gold paint for a finishing touch.

Here are our ornaments this year. A tar-jay special and each ornament is a painted wood miniature of a lamb, a fox, a bee, a chicken. Adorbs.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

If you follow my instagram, then you've already seen these photos. If you don't, please follow here.

Pretty Living is about passion and chasing dreams while setting a positive visual image. They believe in showcasing the beauty of the world, the positivity and the growth of individuals and businesses. They're feminine and empowering and seek the beauty of and from life. They believe in living life pretty. They are Public Relations with Style.

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Sconces mounted on top of mirrors will create an additional layer of light. It's important to light "things" in the room, not air. Don't add ceiling lighting if it's not actually pointing to anything. And think strategically about where you will position your hanging lights in the room. Make sure they will enhance the design aesthetic of your room. You'll notice lighting is a well thought-out element in all of Candice Olson's designed rooms.

When asked how Candice felt about Halogen lighting versus LED, she said that she is still leans towards halogen lighting because it gives off a pure white and crisp clean color. LED has a blue quality about it and recessed lights don't have a beam spread like she'd hope for in a room. Be sure to find lights that give off all the same color (e.g. all white tone). Don't have a table lamp giving a yellow hue with an overhead light in crisp white!

Seems obvious but I noticed recently when I replaced a bulb in my kitchen overhang lighting, the new bulb was white and the rest of my bulbs are a more vintage yellow hue. I immediately thought of Candice and removed the bulb!

It was such a pleasure hearing Candice speak at #db2014 . She has such a dynamic personality and is hilarious (she mentioned that her son's didn't have any hockey tournaments during this time which is why she was able to make it to the conference).

She also told a hilarious story about her electrician, Chico, from her show Divine Designs. Chico gained such notoriety on the show that he became like a mini celebrity. One time, he was sitting in first class next to world class boxer, Evander Holyfield, and a fellow passenger approached their row. Candice hilariously described how Evander started to pull up his sleeves to prepare to provide an autograph. And the passenger by-passed Evander and excitedly yelled "Chico, I love you! Can I have your autograph"

I'm sure Candice would not approve of the lighting in our photo, but I had to share one last time with ya'll! It was quite an experience and she's as adorable (and model-tall) in real life as she appears in her photos!

Do you carefully consider lighting in your decorating? Or do you hastily provide it as an after-thought?

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Chairish calls itself an "online consignment destination that makes it fun & easy for design lovers to buy & sell pre-loved home décor to one another." In reality, it's this and much more. Chairish.com launched in 2013 and allows users to purchase pre-owned designer furnishings at the click of a finger.

It's vision started by a husband and wife team that realized they had a handful of high-end items that they wanted to get rid of, but no sensible way to advertise them. They soon realized that this was a challenge shared by others. In addition, there was a market out there for buyers who desired to purchase high-end furnishings directly from the seller. Thus, a handful of highly experienced co-founders was gathered to help this vision become a reality.

I can't even describe the guilty pleasure I feel when I peruse the amazing offerings from Chairish. Each selection is even more brilliant than the previous. I can get lost for hours...

Courtesy of Chairish

It's like sitting down with your favorite design magazine and looking at one inspiring image after another. Total eye candy. Only, in this case, it's all available for purchase and can be yours at the touch of a finger. And the products are affordable. Attainable. And just utterly amazing.

This is like craigslist, ebay, and etsy all merged into one. Here are some of my top picks:

Recently, Gwyneth Paltrow's goop.com asked the founder of Chairish, Anna Brockway, to open up her "black book" of experts in the vintage furniture resurrection area. Excitingly, Anna listed my fave boys at Parker Kennedy as the experts in Atlanta for laquerwork. (More on Parker Kennedy soon).

Parker Kennedy also featured in Southern Living Mag, March 2014

Chairish has also been featured in publications such as InStyle, Domaine, Elle Décor, House Beautiful, The Oprah Magazine, and glo to name a few. (Read more about their press here).

You must keep your eye on Chairish. Soon, more of my Vivid Hue Homies will begin using this site to sell their products (think Blaze and Bloom) and you'll be able to buy even more premier items right from your sofa!

Buy. Sell. Adore.

Have you had any experience with Chairish? Have you been to their site and what do you think about their offerings?

Please note: I was not reimbursed by Chairish in any way for this review. All reviews expressed are my own. As I always say, I love when I find a company that makes me happy and pleased and love to share it with others.